Darwin at Sky Garden Review

Sunday Brunch at Darwin Brasserie, Sky Garden

On Father’s Day I whisked Dad off to a secret location in London. After many failed guesses and overcoming aggravating train engineering works, we finally arrived 36 floors up the Walkie Talkie building and at the Sky Garden for brunch at Darwin Brassiere.

The Sky Garden is London’s highest public garden with amazing views of the capital’s most iconic sites.

To get to the Sky Garden you have to go through airport style security, it’s good to know that you are in safe hands! The Sky Garden is free to visit but you need to book in advance online here, or you can visit if you have a reservation at one of the restaurants including Darwin Brasserie.

After a look around the beautiful Sky Garden we made our way to Darwin Brasserie. There we were greeted at the door by the staff with a Father’s Day gift from the restaurant in the form of a voucher for Ted’s Grooming Room. It was such a kind gesture and a great start to our Darwin Brasserie experience!

We were at Darwin to sample the new Sunday brunch menu by head chef Arnuad Delannay which is served from 11.30am-4.30pm every Sunday.

Brunch is priced at £38pp which may seem steep at first glance, but I can promise you it is an amazing deal! This includes bottomless bloody marys, virgin marys, milkshakes and juices as well as a starter buffet, main course and a dessert buffet. If you are looking for somewhere to brunch in London then I don’t think you can get a better value meal than Darwin. The breathtaking views are an amazing extra bonus!

The atmosphere was lively and the staff were so attentive and friendly, they were happy to help with anything. They even had time for a history lesson from my Dad as we admired the Tower of London from our table.

Brunch starts off with the Buffet Table which has a huge range of dishes including ‘Bloody Mary’ prawn cocktail with fresh horseradish, asparagus ‘vinaigrette’ with truffle, peas, broad beans and goats’ cheese through to glazed, cooked or smoked ham with smoked salmon and a heritage loom tomato salad. My absolute favourite dish was the chorizo potato salad, perfectly seasoned with huge chunks of juicy chorizo. Heavenly.

To wash down all that amazing grub there are bottomless Bloody Marys, perfect for those who may be suffering from the night before. The well equipped Bloody Mary station allows guests to make up their own, choosing from a traditional bloody Mary, beef Mary or virgin Mary – which was left untouched by us, obvs.

We eyed up the desserts buffer early on and would have been happy to just skip straight to dessert. The table was covered in sweet treats including waffles with berry compote and ice-cream, doughnuts, creme brulee, cheesecake and ice cream.

For those who are not Bloody Mary fans, there is a milkshake station and of course as reviewer it’s my duty to sample every flavour for my readers.

The flavours for the day were Mango & lychee, Vanilla, Blood orange & caramel and Mixed berry. All were deliciously thick and creamy, but if I had to choose it would be the blood orange & caramel.

We managed to resist the desserts table for a bit and ordered a hot dish each, which is included in the price.

Hot dishes items on the menu include eggs benedict, corned beef hash alongside lunchtime staples such as salted beef brisket and roast leg of lamb. Vegetarian options include a super spinach and ricotta tortellini and a gorgeous grilled lemon sole.

Dad went for the Roast Chicken. As you can see you receive a huge portion so go easy on the starter buffet!

My Mum has the Roast Lamb which comes served with a mint gravy, it looked and tasted absolutely delicious.

I went for a childhood favourite, the Corned beef hash topped with a fried egg with brown sauce on the side. It was eggcellent.

By this point we were bursting but it was time for the highlight of the afternoon. Dessert time. (and more milkshakes)

I couldn’t decide what to go for, so I had a mixture. I gorged on blueberry cheesecake, fresh melon, creme brulee AND a doughnut which were all equally fantastic. Unfortunately I was way too stuffed to try anymore of what was on offer at the buffet table. I think by this point it was probably best I stopped scoffing.

As you can see the views from Darwin are incredible, it’s definitely the place to take someone if you are looking to impress. From our table alone we could see Tower Bridge, Tower of London and the Shard.

Brunch came to just over £42pp including 12.5% service. If endless amounts of Bloody Marys, Milkshakes and Juice is not enough for you then don’t worry Darwin has an extensive drinks list. If leaving your house on a Sunday is a struggle after a heavy night then Darwin Brassiere is open for lunch or dinner with main courses from £8.75. We visited for brunch during their 2pm sitting.